JOIN USAre you bored of your old bedspreads? Are store-bought sheets not living up to your creative standards? Why not design your own? Hema Anand shows you how.
A bed is the focal point of any bedroom as it is the most prominent furniture of that room. Along with the design of the bed, the bedsheet also makes a lot of difference to the overall appearance of the room. A clean, bright and stylish bedsheet brings a flash of cheer and style to the whole bedroom. But when you need to shop for bedsheets, you will find that the stores always have almost the same variety of sheets.
Finding something unique and eye-catching may not be an easy job and you may never be able to find the type of bedsheet that you have in mind. But if you are the crafty type, you can put your creativity and skills to good use and design some beautiful and exclusive bedsheets for your rooms. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
Mix and match
Plain bedsheets whether coloured or white seem boring and monotonous. So just get the sewing machine out, do some mixing and matching with some contrasting coloured or printed fabrics, and you can design some lovely bedsheets which may not be available in any store. For example, take a white bedsheet and some fabric of any contrasting colour like black with white polka dots. Make sure that you wash the fabrics before starting to ensure that they do not shrink later and the colours don’t bleed. Cut long strips of about six cm width each from the fabric.
Now, measure the bedsheet and roughly mark out the pattern in which you will sew the fabric strips on to the sheet. You could make a square shape pattern or a striped pattern or any other pattern of your choice. Stitch the strips together to get the desired length according to your design and then stitch them on the bedsheet with a folding of one cm on each side. Follow the same design to make matching pillow covers and your beautiful bedsheet set is ready.
Old sheets can also be re-used to highlight plain bedsheets. You may have some old printed bedsheets which have some eye-catching bandhni or Jaipuri prints. These bedsheets may be worn out but the centre portion, which is mostly a circle or square, will still be in good condition. Cut out this part and stitch it on the centre of a plain bedsheet of a contrasting colour. You can also cut out some strips and stitch them on the edges of the new bedsheet to make an attractive sheet. To make a unique bedsheet for your kids’ room, cut out geometric shapes like square, rectangle, circle and triangle from the old bedsheet and stitch them on to a plain bedsheet. Toddlers will love to sleep on this bedsheet even as they learn their shapes.
If you have some nice and colourful fabrics, you can make a bedsheet by using two of them. Cut two big squares of the same size from each fabric and stitch them together to form a bedsheet. You can also cut long pieces and stitch them together alternatively, lengthwise, and complete the bedsheet by making the edges with one of the fabrics.
Let’s paint
Fabric painting is an excellent art to highlight a plain bedsheet. If you have a flair for painting, use your creativity to add new life to any bland fabric and design some lovely bedsheets by painting your ideas into existence. Always select fabrics which have cotton or polyester blends and pre-wash the bedsheet before you start painting. Fabric painting can be done by free hand or by using a stencil.
For free hand painting, it is better to first draw the design on a paper and try out different colour combinations. Pretty flowery designs or landscapes can also be painted. Then the design can be painted on the bedsheet. Lay it on a flat surface or use a big embroidery frame to fix the part of the bedsheet which has to be painted. When painting on a flat surface, place an old piece of cloth or a piece of cardboard under the bedsheet or between two layers of the bedsheet to prevent the paint from bleeding. When the painting is complete, it can be highlighted by doing some detailing with gold of silver paints. The bedsheet should be left to dry for 24 hours and should not be washed before 72 hours of painting.
If you decide to paint by using a stencil, you can either make your own stencil or purchase readymade stencils which are readily available in any crafts store in the market. Place the bedsheet on a flat surface and keep an old piece of cloth or a piece of cardboard under it. Keep the stencil on it and ensure that it does not move while painting.
Using paint brushes, fill in the gaps in the stencil and then carefully remove it and let the paint dry before continuing. Clean the stencil and continue in the same way to complete the pattern. Spray painting technique can also be used to paint using stencils. To make bedsheets for kids’ rooms, make stencils of alphabets, geometric shapes, cartoon characters or the childrens’ names and paint some fascinating bedsheets for them.
Pretty laces and ribbons
If you have to re-dress your bedding, adding lace or ribbons to the bedsheet is a good idea. A wide variety of laces and ribbons are readily available in any store and they can also be easily sewn on to plain or printed sheets to create a beautiful and delicate effect. Laces can also be sewn on the edges of the bedsheets to enhance the look. Different coloured satin ribbons can be sewn in a criss-cross pattern for a colourful look.
Embroidery or applique work
Embroidery may be time consuming but if you are patient enough and have a flair for it, you can always try your hand at it. Or, you can get some machine embroidery done from your embroiderer. Embroidered appliqué work motifs are also a wonderful way to enhance the look of bedsheets. These motifs can be easily sewn on to sheets for a totally new look.
Create magic with metallic paints
You can beautify any printed bedsheet by using some golden, silver or bronze coloured paints to highlight the print. Just use the paints and highlight the print all over. When complete, it will surely look very pretty.